Most people who read my column must think I’m sort of Neanderthal, male chauvinist pig. Not true. I love all women and believe they can do whatever they want with their lives … as long as my dinner is hot and ready when I’m hungry.
Hey, I love you ladies; so think of this column as a loving tribute to all the chicks, dames and broads out there. Before any women get mad at me, relax. Let’s remember one little thing: Gloria Steinem, the queen of the feminist movement, was one hot-looking Playboy Bunny.
SKIRTS BRING ME SORROW by Hank Janson – I’ve given a lot of love to various noir authors out there, but I think I just found a new author to seek out. You see, Janson writes like people actually talk. No one is going to mistake one of Janson’s mysteries for some cozy Agatha Christie number.
I took a chance on this 1951 title just based on the Rita Hayworth wannabe on the cover. Good thing I did, as Janson gives mystery readers a nice little package with plenty of turns to surprise. But one of the central mysteries in the book won’t come as a shock, especially for someone who reads a lot of this ilk.
Our main character – also named Janson – is a reporter who works out of a Chicago paper. The book starts out easy enough, with Hank trying to get an angle on a strike that is taking place at the loading docks – that is, until the dead body of a long-missing heir turns up in an unrefrigerated case.
Hank figures, why cover the strike when you can dig into the life of the now-deceased heir who was accused of murder 20 years ago? He heads off to the father’s house where Hank meets a Sandra Fletcher, a total knockout who’s just dripping in sexuality. He figures her for the daughter, but nope, she’s the wife of the rich old man.
So as Hank digs into the past of the dead son, it leads him into the backwoods of small towns and cover-ups, all while Sandra plays her own little game of feminine wiles. This is a true treat for any hard-boiled fan. Included in my copy is a informative essay about how the books were treated in their day overseas and how their covers were deemed scandalous in their time.
STRIPPER! by John Dexter – Yes, another book that features more telegraphs then a Western Union station. The titular stripper’s name is Diana DeLisle, the star attraction at the Pelican Club, part of a mob-run string of private hangouts where membership has its privileges.
This 1960 novel is a total by-the-numbers sex novel – not at all graphic, but plenty of titillation for its day, with brief talks about “dykes” and the bland sex scenes in which our heroine takes part.
Diane goes about her daily life as a stripper until big boss Johnny Lucas visits and wants her as his own. Throw in an overambitious club manager who wants a bigger piece of the pie, then what seems to be true love for Diane in the form of a businessman named Ned, who is really interested in her and how she knows Lucas. A light bulb should go off in everyone’s head about now; the outcome could not have been spelled out more.
Still, the story flies by and is better than the usual offering of this type. But someone needed to – I dunno – maybe take a creative writing class and come up with better plot points.
THE WANTON by Carter Brown – Time again for another mystery that can be read in less then three hours. This time in the Brown output, we get an Al Wheeler mystery from 1959. Wheeler is – are you ready for this shock? – an actual cop.
In LAW & ORDER fashion, the book begins with the discovery of the victim, with Al being called in on his day off to investigate. Said dead girl is part of the very rich and powerful Randall family, who want as little as possible leaked to the press. They think it’s a suicide, since she’s hanging from a tree no one can climb. Al has other ideas – namely, that it was murder, with one of the clues being a brand on the girl in the shape of a “W.”
Al comes across three very different women in this tale: the mother of the clan, who seems a little out of touch; her daughter Justine, who seems like a red herring; and the super-sexy wife of one of the Randalls, a kept women who’s not really in love with her hubby.
The book suffers from being too breezy at times, with the plot moving so fast that the suspects dwindle real quick, with attempts made on other characters’ lives. Two more murders occur, one being Justine, with a matching “W.” Who could be behind it all? Let’s just say it’s one of the biggest clichés in the mystery genre.
Next time, I sum up MOBY-DICK in three words: Ahab had issues. –Bruce Grossman
Buy it at Amazon.
Discuss it in our forums.
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS:
• MURDER IS A PACKAGE DEAL by Carter Brown
• THE NEVER-WAS GIRL by Carter Brown
{ 4 trackbacks }
{ 0 comments… add one now }